China’s economic meltdown could hurt Nebraska

China saw explosive economic growth over the past few years and now that is cooling off dramatically.

The Chinese economy is struggling after big drops in stocks and some investors believe that trend will continue.

Creighton University Economist Ernie Goss says China is Nebraska’s fourth largest international customer so their economic problems will be felt here.

“What it means for Nebraska is food sales abroad and that is going to have a negative impact there as well,” Goss says.

There is also the possibility of increased interest rates here. Goss says, “About $1-trillion of our debt. The Chinese own China own that. If they sell off that debt or buy less of it, that means the prices of our debt will come down. That would be treasuries and yields would go up. In other words our mortgage rates would increase.”

Goss says China’s goal is a growth rate of 7%. He doubts if that goal will be met but adds that we may never know.